The salad spinner is not only for salad
Where we see that the salad spinner can be used for many other purposes.
11 K 4.8/5 (20 reviews)
Keywords for this post:Salad spinnerUseSpinningTrickLast modified on: March 25th 2022
The salad spinner is not only for salad
If you are of a certain age (like me) you may have known the salad basket, from your mother or grandmother, that we used to shake outside with a big swing of the arms, to wring out the salad leaves after washing, and this before using them or adding vinaigrette once poured into a salad bowl.
Even if you still find this kind of basket, hardly modernized, you may have at home a salad spinner, this rather simple utensil: there is a basket inside that turns on an axis, driven by the crank on top. It's the centrifugal force that does all the work, the water is ejected from the leaves that turn very fast inside, and recovered in the bottom.
And a salad spinner can be used for something else than spinning salad, in practice, as soon as you have to dry or more globally to remove water from something, you can also use your spinner.
Here are 2 specific examples:
If you blanch spinach, that is to say that you plunge the leaves into boiling salted water for less than a minute before plunging them into cold water, you will then need to spin them out before you can use them in your recipe.
Traditionally, you drain them in a colander and then put them on a tea towel and press on them to remove as much water as possible that the towel absorbs. Traditional, but not very efficient, and you will stain your towel green.
It is much more effective to pass the spinach leaves out of the cold water in the spin-dryer, by small packets, you will be astonished of all the water which comes out.
Another example, you want to make a broccoli or cauliflower gratin, in principle you will also blanch them, and then drain them before putting them in the gratin dish.
Not the best method, broccoli (like cauliflower) retains water from cooking because of its structure, this water does not go away when draining in the usual way, and it may disturb the creamy side of your gratin.
Here again, a little spin-drying...
These two examples are not exhaustive, of course, you should not hesitate to use the wringer for a lot of food that you need to dry, it is much more efficient than a simple passage in the strainer even followed by a drying with a cloth.
To sum up: Your salad spinner can effectively be used to spin many other foods besides salad, both raw and cooked.
Even if you still find this kind of basket, hardly modernized, you may have at home a salad spinner, this rather simple utensil: there is a basket inside that turns on an axis, driven by the crank on top. It's the centrifugal force that does all the work, the water is ejected from the leaves that turn very fast inside, and recovered in the bottom.
So?
And a salad spinner can be used for something else than spinning salad, in practice, as soon as you have to dry or more globally to remove water from something, you can also use your spinner.
Here are 2 specific examples:
If you blanch spinach, that is to say that you plunge the leaves into boiling salted water for less than a minute before plunging them into cold water, you will then need to spin them out before you can use them in your recipe.
Traditionally, you drain them in a colander and then put them on a tea towel and press on them to remove as much water as possible that the towel absorbs. Traditional, but not very efficient, and you will stain your towel green.
It is much more effective to pass the spinach leaves out of the cold water in the spin-dryer, by small packets, you will be astonished of all the water which comes out.
Another example, you want to make a broccoli or cauliflower gratin, in principle you will also blanch them, and then drain them before putting them in the gratin dish.
Not the best method, broccoli (like cauliflower) retains water from cooking because of its structure, this water does not go away when draining in the usual way, and it may disturb the creamy side of your gratin.
Here again, a little spin-drying...
These two examples are not exhaustive, of course, you should not hesitate to use the wringer for a lot of food that you need to dry, it is much more efficient than a simple passage in the strainer even followed by a drying with a cloth.
To sum up: Your salad spinner can effectively be used to spin many other foods besides salad, both raw and cooked.
Lasts posts
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20251,8285
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20257,0493
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,5295
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,6085
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,7275
Other pages you may also like
No need to boil gelatin
Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...November 21th 20247,8015
Fruits which can ruin your jelly
There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...March 6th 201378 K4.0
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.June 23th 2021283 K 23.8
How to avoid lumps
You've probably come across this unpleasant phenomenon where, when you try to incorporate an ingredient (usually a solid or powder) into a preparation (usually a liquid), the mixture doesn't mix properly and you end up with little "balls" or little lumps of the solid part that refuse to mix with the...October 9th 202022 K4.8
Unmoulding cakes while hot
When you make a cake, pound cake or whatever (what bakers call a "travel cake" because it's easy to carry around) you've most likely made a batter, either by hand or in a food processor, which you then pour into a buttered pan. It's a classic, and I've already talked to you about 2 or 3 tips on...February 6th 202138 K4.6
Post a comment or question
Follow this page (as 2 people already do)
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.